Private company

Playdom

Defunct online social network game developer

Playdom, Inc. was an online social network game developer popular on Facebook, Google+ and Myspace. The company was founded in the San Francisco Bay Area by University of California, Berkeley graduates Ling Xiao and Chris Wang and Swarthmore College graduate Dan Yue. In 2009, the market for games played on social networking sites was valued at $300 million, consisting mostly of online sales of virtual goods.2 It employed 470 people.1 It is part of Disney Games Group.1 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 20, 2026.

Overview

2008Founded1

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Playdom, Inc. was an online social network game developer popular on Facebook, Google+ and Myspace. The company was founded in the San Francisco Bay Area by University of California, Berkeley graduates Ling Xiao and Chris Wang and Swarthmore College graduate Dan Yue. In 2009, the market for games played on social networking sites was valued at $300 million, consisting mostly of online sales of virtual goods.2

Corporate structure

Playdom is part of a group headed by The Walt Disney Company. 350 entities, 33 countries on record. Switch between the flow chart and the network, and select any entity to see its details.

Built from parent and subsidiary links from GLEIF, the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (CC0); subsidiaries listed in Exhibit 21 of annual reports filed with the SEC; subsidiaries, stakes and holdings from Wikidata (CC0). Each entity in the chart links to its source.

What it owns

What Playdom reports owning in its annual reports to the SEC: buildings, land and equipment, real estate and locations, investments, intangible assets and inventory, at the end of its latest fiscal year and a year before.

Stakes and holdings (Wikidata)

Things Wikidata records the company as owning, with the share when stated.1

The story

On November 12, 2009, Playdom acquired Green Patch and Trippert Labs. In September 2009, competitor Zynga initiated a trade secrets lawsuits against Playdom and 22 other rivals, including Green Patch. These lawsuits were finally settled in November 2010, less than four months after Disney's acquisition of Playdom in July 2010.

On March 31, 2010, Playdom announced the acquisition of Argentina-based online game developer Three Melons for an undisclosed amount. In April 2010, Playdom closed all but one of the games from the Green Patch studio six months post-acquisition. On April 26, 2010, Playdom announced the acquisition of Merscom, a North Carolina–based social game developer. On May 19, 2010, they acquired Acclaim Games. On June 7, 2010, Playdom announced the acquisition of gaming developer Hive7 after a $33 million funding round. This marked Playdom's sixth acquisition over the prior year. On July 8, 2010, Playdom announced it acquired Metaplace, Inc. The pricing of the deal was not disclosed.

On July 27, 2010, The Walt Disney Company acquired Playdom in a $763 million deal. Disney initially paid $563 million for Playdom, which was the No. 3 social game company with about 42 million monthly players at the time of the acquisition. The deal also included a further $200 million in additional payments if Playdom achieves certain growth thresholds.

In May 2011, Playdom has been ordered by the Federal Trade Commission to pay $3 million in fines for collecting and disclosing children's information without parental approval.

In April 2014, Playdom announced the closure of all online games on the Playdom site, including Gardens of Time, Marvel: Avengers Alliance, Kitchen Scramble, Pirates of the Caribbean: Isles of War, Ghosts of Mistwood, Disney City Girl, and Disney Words of Wonder. The games closed on April 25, 2014. RockYou acquired the Facebook games Gardens of Time, Words of Wonder, and Disney City Girl (renamed to City Girl Life).

On September 1, 2016, Disney Interactive Media Group announced the end of Marvel: Avengers Alliance and its mobile-only sequel, Marvel: Avengers Alliance 2, bringing a close to the studio.

From Wikipedia’s article on Playdom, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Leadership

Who has led Playdom, and when. Pick a name to see everywhere that person has worked.

Chief financial officer

  1. Christa Quarles2009–2014
2010201520202025

Products and brands

  • social network game

Listed on Wikidata.1

Gardens of Time was the most successful Facebook game created by Playdom, with a peak of 17 million monthly active users and 4 million daily active users.

Sold games

The following games were sold to RockYou between April and October 2014.

Disney City Girl (now renamed "City Girl Life")

Disney Words of Wonder (now renamed "Words of Wonder")

Read the full text

Gardens of Time

Kitchen Scramble

Discontinued games

Guardians of the Galaxy: The Universal Weapon (GotG)

Social City – A casual strategy game in which the player develops a city. Social City won the 2010 Game Developers Choice Online Award for Best Social Network Game. Inside Social Games rated Social City as the #2 Best Facebook Game of the first half of 2010. Social City also received an honorable mention on Gamasutra's list of the Top 5 Facebook Social Games in 2010. Gamezebo rated Social City at 3.5 out of 5, highlighting balanced gameplay and "adorable" graphics. However, it was criticized for its lack of complexity: "Once you’ve mastered the game’s ecosystem of manufacturing/residential/leisure, all you’ll be doing is visiting your town to keep this balance in check and grow your city. Growing your city remains exciting throughout, but by the time you hit level 15 or so you just start wishing there was something more." Social City was closed on December 20, 2011.

Armies of Magic

Big City Life

Blackwood & Bell Mysteries

Bloodlines

Bola

Botkin's Hidden Cove

City of Wonder

Deep Realms

Disney Animal Kingdom Explorers

Disney Dream Kingdom

Disney Ghosts of Mistwood

Disney Gnome Town

Disney Hidden Worlds

Disney Club Penguin: Card-Jitsu Snow

ESPNU College Town

ESPN Return Man

ESPN Sports Bar & Grill

Fanglies

Fish Friends

Full Bloom

The Incredible Machine

(Lil) Farm Life

(Lil) Green Patch

Market Street

Marvel: Avengers Alliance

Marvel: Avengers Alliance 2

Marvel: Avengers Alliance Tactics

Mobsters – Facebook

Mobsters – MySpace

Mobsters: Overdrive

Mobsters 2: Vendetta

Mobsters: Criminal Empire

My Vineyard

NBA Dynasty

Pet Resort

Pirates of the Caribbean: Isles of War

Poker Palace

ScribbleMix

Sorority Life

Star Wars Commander

Threads of Mystery

Tiki Farm

Tiki Resort

Treetopia

Verdonia

Wild Ones

From Wikipedia’s article on Playdom, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Subsidiaries and ownership

Parent company

Owners

Subsidiaries

From Wikidata.1

Acquisitions

  1. May 2010Acquired Acclaim Games1

Timeline

  1. Sep 2016Dissolved Dissolved1
  2. 2008Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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